Evgeny Platov, the former world and Olympic figure skating champion, is convinced that his charges, Sinead and John Kerr, have the quality necessary to achieve medal success at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Platov, who was in Edinburgh for a whistle-stop visit prior to flying over to Gothenburg with the Kerrs for this week's World Championships, has been working with the Scots for the last 18 months and says he has witnessed great improvements in their performances.

"They are not kids, they are smart people who have set themselves lofty goals and are determined to make them happen," said Platov, who, in tandem with his Russian partner, Oksana Grishuk, accumulated an astonishing haul of 22 consecutive championship victories, including four world crowns, and two Olympic triumphs at Nagano and Lillehammer between 1994 and 1998. "Usually, you have to push a bit to keep people's motivation up, but that is never a problem with John and Sinead.

"That's why we have set ourselves a target of a top-10 finish in Sweden, and, as of next season, they are going to be appearing in more competitions, so the build-up to the Olympics really starts here.

"Maybe, at the outset, it was a bit daunting going in against the best Russians, but there's no fear factor any more, because they have climbed the standings on merit, they deserve to be where they are, and the next step is chasing medals next year and in 2010."

John Kerr also feels that the moment has arrived for the couple to break into the spotlight. "We were a bit disappointed with 11th last time around, and we certainly feel we have the ability to do significantly better than that," said the younger sibling. "You can never predict what is going to wow the judges but we are going over there with the attitude that anything from sixth to 10th is a realistic target and we definitely believe we will do better than in 2007."

Platov shares that opinion and he is not someone inclined to soft soap. "Week-in, week-out, they are working away, for six, seven hours every day and their attitude is first-class," he said. "They have the mentality of all good champions that, no matter how well they skate, they could always have done better."

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